10 Nov Creating a Child-Friendly Kitchen
Creating a
Child-Friendly Kitchen
We know at Prestons Kitchens that when envisioning your ideal kitchen, numerous elements demand thoughtful consideration, with your lifestyle playing a pivotal role in shaping your choices. Particularly, if you have children, it’s essential to evaluate how your kitchen design accommodates their safety needs. Kitchens often house potential hazards, including knives, hobs, and sharp corners, and you should feel peace of mind when at home, that safety is assured. Fortunately, there are ways to transform your kitchen into a secure place for your children, here’s how:
Opting for tall cabinets
We understand that keeping items out of the grasp of your children’s curious hands can be quite challenging. To minimise the risk of accidents, consider installing tall cabinets that are inaccessible to your children. This proactive approach ensures that potentially dangerous or fragile items like pans, knives, and vases remain securely stored, significantly reducing the possibility of accidental injuries.
Going for an induction hob rather than a gas hob
Choosing an induction hob can be much safer for children for multiple reasons. One of the most prominent benefits is the absence of open flames. Unlike gas hobs, induction hobs rely on electromagnetic fields to heat the cookware directly rather than the glass surface. This means there are no visible flames, drastically reducing the risk of accidental burns or fires. Another feature that is extremely useful to parents is the child lock feature. This ensures that inquisitive children do not accidentally switch on the hob. When the child lock is engaged, parents can confidently go about their tasks in the kitchen, knowing that the hob is secure and inaccessible to children. They also carry an anti-overflow feature, so if you leave your pan boiling away and it starts to overflow, the hob will recognise this and switch itself off. This not only adds an extra layer of protection but also promotes a stress-free cooking environment.
Increasing room visibility
A critical aspect when designing a kitchen is room visibility. While it’s great to have safely stored away all the hazardous items and objects, what are the children up to? A safe kitchen means that the cook is involved with the whole space, not just the cooking. Hob positioning is critical for this. If the hob is positioned incorrectly, you could spend the whole time you’re cooking worried about the events that could be taking place behind you. We can design a kitchen so that you are at the very heart of the kitchen, well aware of what is going on around you.
Going for rounded edges on surfaces
Protecting your little ones in the kitchen can be as easy as choosing worktops with rounded edges. We understand that everyone, at some stage of parenting, has experienced that concerned gasp when their little ones stumble towards a table corner. With our manufacturing capabilities, we can custom curve island corners to any radius of our clients choosing. Rounded edges mitigate the risk of the impact of collisions, ensuring a safer environment without compromising on style.
Design a kitchen with in-cupboard storage
Incorporating in-cupboard storage solutions is a game changer for maintaining a child friendly kitchen environment. We can design you a kitchen that promotes storing items within cabinets. This minimises the temptation for children to explore potentially hazardous objects (or sugary food!) left out on countertops. It promotes a clutter-free space where children can move freely without the risk of knocking over items or, worse, getting hurt. Additionally, we have cutlery trays that are designed with grooved out sections for your kitchen knives, ensuring the sharp edge is never exposed, all hidden behind a safety clipped drawer catch. With everything neatly organised behind closed doors, parents can rest easy, knowing that potentially dangerous items are safely out of reach.
Find the nearest showroom to you, and pay us a visit: https://prestonskitchens.co.uk/showrooms/
